This salad uses hearts of palm, which was one of my favorite low-carb summer ingredients for a long time. Then Costco stopped carrying those big jars of hearts of palm; don’t you hate it when that happens? So if you have to buy those pricey little jars from the grocery store, you can get away with a lot less hearts of palm than I’m using here, but please don’t leave it out! The hearts of palm are amazing in this salad.

The other ingredients I love here are fresh oregano and fresh basil. I have both growing in the herb patch in front of my house, and I used a generous amount of both in the dressing here, but if you have to buy herbs please buy basil and you can use a little bit of dried oregano if needed. The flavor of both of those herbs goes perfectly with the Greek olives I used, but Greek olives are not everyone’s cup of tea, and if you prefer black olives you can use those.

No matter how much you switch it up to fit your own food preferences, I hope you’ll try this tasty salad that’s finally getting updated with better photos after nearly 10 years hanging out back in the archives! And Happy Father’s Day everyone!

Trim the beans, then steam then for about 7 minutes, using a steamer insert in a large pot or an electric vegetable steamer. As soon as beans are tender-crisp plunge them into ice water to stop the cooking; then drain very well in a colander placed in the sink.

While beans cook, drain and slice the hearts of palm, cut olives in half, and measure out the Feta. Combine the balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, lemon zest, chopped fresh oregano, and chopped fresh basil to make the dressing. (I use my immersion blender with a bowl attachment to make the dressing, but a food processor will work well too. By now the beans should be pretty well drained, so spread out on paper towels and blot dry so the salad won’t be watery.

Toss together the beans, sliced hearts of palm, chopped roasted red pepper, and olives with as much dressing as you prefer. Then gently mix in the Feta and season the salad to taste with fresh-ground black pepper.

Make it a Low-Carb Meal:

Green Bean Salad with Hearts of Palm, Olives, Red Pepper, and Feta would taste great with Very Greek Grilled Chicken for a low-carb meal.

Green Bean Salad with Hearts of Palm, Olives, Red Pepper, and Feta

This Green Bean Salad with Hearts of Palm, Olives, Red Pepper, and Feta is a great side dish for a summer picnic.

Ingredients:

Ingredients:

1 lb. fresh green beans, preferably French green beans

1-2 cups sliced hearts of palm

3/4 cup Kalamata olives or black olives, drained and sliced in half

1 cup roasted red bell pepper from a jar, diced in pieces about 3/8 inch square (You could use the whole jar if it’s a small jar.)

1/2 cup crumbled Feta cheese

fresh ground black pepper to taste

Dressing Ingredients:

1 T balsamic vinegar

2 T fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tsp. lemon zest (probably optional, but good)

1-2 T chopped fresh oregano (or use small amount dried oregano)

1-2 T chopped fresh basil (I would omit basil if I only had dried basil)

Directions:

Trim ends from green beans. (I do this by gathering a handful, then standing them up on the cutting board while holding loosely so the beans all line up, then trimming the ends. Turn over and repeat with the other end.)

Cut beans into pieces about 2 inches long.

Steam beans using a steamer insert in a large pot with a tight-fitting lid or an electric vegetable steamer until they’re barely tender-crisp. I steamed mine 7 minutes; I would check at that point to see if they’re as done as you prefer as I like to keep the beans quite crisp.

When beans are as tender as you’d like them, remove from steamer and plunge immediately into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.

Remove beans to colander and let them cool and drain about 15 minutes, then spread beans out on paper towels and blot dry.

While beans cook, drain and slice the hearts of palm, drain and chop red peppers, drain olives and cut in half, and measure out the Feta.

Combine balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, lemon zest, chopped fresh oregano and chopped fresh basil and process until herbs are very finely chopped and dressing is mixed well. (I did this in the small bowl chopper attachment of my immersion blender with a bowl attachment, which worked great but you can also use a food processor.)

To assemble the salad, combine the drained beans with sliced hearts of palm, olive halves, and chopped red pepper.

Add as much dressing as needed to moisten salad and combine gently. (You may not need all the dressing.)

Add feta cheese and stir enough to barely mix in feta.

Grind over some black pepper and serve immediately.

This will keep for several days in the refrigerator, but bring to room temperature before serving the leftovers.

Notes:

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Green Bean Salad with Hearts of Palm, Olives, Red Pepper, and Feta is a perfect side dish for low-carb diet plans and any phase of the South Beach Diet.

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Thank you Kalyn for this recipe w/hearts of palm, I love them and so few ideas to use them in recipes..I've only seen the expensive small can in grocery stores. I will be checking out Costco this week..appreciate the tip.